


I'm sure you know.

by Sammichbot



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Hurt, Implied Relationships, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-02-07 22:05:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1915566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sammichbot/pseuds/Sammichbot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years pass by with little effort as The Spine tries to hold onto the past and his growing emotions as he remembers the years since Hatchworth was placed into the vault.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm sure you know.

"I don’t think I’ve ever told you…But I’m sure you already know…”

—-

"I’ll be right outside waitin’ for ya. I promise that you won’t be alone for long. I’m sure you’ll be out of there in no time so just hold tight."

The Spine sat outside a small hatch door deep inside of the manor. There were no windows and no way to open up that cold door that lead to a small compartment that was just big enough for its one current resident.

Had it been years? He couldn’t really tell. The days seemed to blur together in one large mass of loneliness that hit The Spine like a child whose best friend had just moved away…or like two friends separated on the battle field.

He had been put away on a day where the sky decided it had nothing better to do but rain. That was the day that it was discovered that Hatchworth’s core had a fracture.

He had gone away without a sound or warning. One day the robots had woken from stasis to find they were one short of their usual gang. There wasn’t much they could do about it so they went on their way; Rabbit and The Jon skipping off into their lives, business as usual. The Spine however…well he didn’t take the news as well as his siblings.

He remembered anger. He felt a fire in his chest that set him off at the slightest thing. At first he couldn’t believe that Hatchworth was gone, he became angry and snapped at everyone at the drop of a hat. The anger soon turned to anxiety as he fought to learn the whereabouts of the bronze robot and when he finally found out where he was…there was sadness.

He remembered crying. His cold titanium skin was almost stained with oil with the frequency of his bouts of improbable emotion. He found the hatch leading to the vault and remembered gripping the turn wheel to try to release his brother to no avail. There were dangerous repercussions if Hatchworth would be allowed to walk free at this point in time, and if The Spine cared at all for Hatchworth’s well being…then he would have to do without seeing him for a while.

And The Spine did care.

He cared more then anyone would ever know.

His days consisted of sitting outside of the vault. He would try to end the silence by talking to Hatchworth, knowing full well that the other automaton wouldn’t be able to hear him, but it sure settled his nerves better then just trying to ignore the issue.

"I cant believe this. But here we are. Hatchy-boy don’t you fret, I’m sure you’ll be out soon. Peter will find a sure fire cure and repair you up good. Then we can talk again together. I promise…I’ll be waitin’ for ya. Trust me, it’s going to be fine."

He worked out a sigh as steam puffed up from his neck and mouth.  
"I don’t think I ever told you…maybe its a bit soon…I…well…maybe its too soon. I’ll be sure to tell you when you get out so I can do it good and proper."

—-

Days turned into weeks and still The Spine waited. It seemed like an eternity since he had last saw the other bot and the anxiety still ran through his pipes like

"Check out this one Hatchy…" The Spine smiled at the vault door, pulling his guitar onto his folded legs he began to strum out a tune. It was sweet and long and found a way to warm his heart as he fought to ignore the fact that he was growing impatient at the lack of effort to fix Hatchworth.

"We’ve been fitted to play some songs. We’re going to try it out real soon…my voice has some pretty good tones. Rabbit’s been practicing the melodica and The Jon’s been doing real good at the guitar…I’m thinkin’ of ya, you know…I wonder what your voice will sound like when you get out…Don’t keep me in suspense Hatchy…come back soon…I miss ya…"

The Spine spent the better part of that day and the days that followed playing songs for Hatchworth in the vault, hoping that maybe the sound would make it through, and that it might cheer Hatchworth up.

"I know I said I would tell you something real soon…I just don’t think its quite the right time…just…hold on a bit longer. I still have a lot to figure out myself…hang tight buddy. I’ll be here."

—-

The weeks would follow the years, pulling The Spine and Hatchworth farther apart. The Spine tried and tried to keep his visits with the vault door, but those years would turn to decades and those would age The Spine rapidly. He would often neglect to sleep in his charging station, preferring the floor outside of the vault to spending it plagued with nightmares of the past, of the war and of the loss of one of his best friends.

Still, Walter girls and the Walters would always find ways to get him under the magnifying glass for repairs and soon his outward appearance would start to change as the technologies changed, and slowly The Spine found himself looking less and less like he once did.

It was one of those nights were the other bots had slipped into stasis without any issue that The Spine found himself wandering the manor in the dark; the walls only illumination coming from The Spine’s bright green optics. He had walked until he felt his charge slipping down and down until he swore he was only running on pure will power. He felt a break in his energy as he came across that cold cold door once more. He smiled and sat in front of the door, pressing a titanium hand to the vault’s only entrance.

"I found you…How long has it been? You wont believe this Hatchy…but I’ve been upgraded again. I don’t know why they bother, most days I just want to lay down and rust over…still, there isn’t much I can do about it."

He felt steam hiss out from his newly installed spinal fins as they began to retract into his body to lower functions and use less electricity as he went into a mock power saving mode. He moved his body to lean against the wall, a hand moving up to hold the turn wheel, not even attempting to open it. He honestly felt comfort in holding onto that door, onto Hatchworth.

"I’ve been doing a lot of thinking Hatchworth…you know…you did a bad thing, leavin’ me all alone…I’m kinda lonely without you. I miss you something awful…" He felt his optics begin to lower in brightness as his body slowly shut down.

"I’ve been doin’ a lot of thinking…A lot of it about you…you know…I don’t remember the last time I ever smiled true. I think you took my smile into that vault with you…locked it away, took the key and tossed it into the sea. Hatchy come back and bring it back to me. Bring you back. Come back Hatchworth, please…don’t leave me waiting…I l-l-looooo…"

He felt his body slowly grinding to a gentle halt as he finally powered down, leaving his body slumped against the wall next to the vault, a hand still holding tight to the turn wheel.

—-

"I can’t keep coming to see you Hatchworth…Peter says its bad for me…" The Spine began one afternoon.

After countless visits and countless shutdown’s he was finally forbidden to wander to the vault at the threat of the removal of his memories about the mustachioed bot inside. The Spine saw the easy out in forgetting all about Hatchworth, Rabbit and The Jon had almost forgotten about him without the aid of memory erasing. He didn’t want to lose the new feelings that he was discovering so he made a promise not to try to go to the vault ever again.

"Ya know…I’ve been thinking. I don’t know why but the longer and longer I think about you, well…I can’t help but feel happy. Of course its not the same without you here…I miss you and that’s a sure thing…but I’ve been feeling a bit differently as of late. Every time I think about you…my boiler starts to heat up. My head gets light and I cant help but feel sad. I want to feel you again Hatchy, I miss your hugs…and well. To be quite honest…I think these feelings might be a bit more rooted in me then I like to admit…I feel like I’m falling from the sky without you…"

His spine puffed steam as he got real close to the vault door; pressing his forehead against the metal. He closed his eyes and whispered words that were between himself and Hatchworth before he finally pulled himself up, and with a hesitant step he began to walk away from the vault for the last time.

—-

—-

"Slow down Rabbit…you aren’t going to beat me by tryin’ to cheat." The Spine chuckled as he watched his sibling trying to warm up her arm for the impending arm wrestling match.

"A-a-a-aw you’re j-j-just bein’ a sore loser, Spine-y! I c-c-c-could beat you every day of the week!" She exclaimed as she bounced in her seat.

"Right right, best ten out of 15." He said to the other who was more then willing to prove her awesomeness in battle.

Where had the time gone? It seemed like days since he had last seen the vault, but there were the years, flying by without any mercy on The Spine and his growing feelings. He had gotten into a comfortable groove of living his life without the mustachioed bot.

He lived a good life. He and the others sang and performed for lots of people who fell in love with their music. It gave him some long needed purpose; purpose he was happy that didn’t revolve around war.

Sure, he was still a bit hung up about Hatchworth, but he figured that Hatchworth wouldn’t care to know how beat up The Spine was getting over him. He just wasn’t like that. He liked things to be happy and full of mystery, not sadness and longing. He would keep strong…for Hatchworth…Well, that’s what he told himself he would do.

It wasn’t unusual for The Spine to get lost in his thoughts and it often happened in the cracks of time when he found himself reminded of Hatchworth, and once he was on a roll…well there was no stopping the thoughts that followed.

"C-c-c-c-come ONNNN The Spine! I’ll take y-y-you down! Put up yer dukes!" Rabbit egged on, only freezing as the sound of a knock rang out through the manor. She immediately dropped the arm wrestling match and charged out of the room. "IM’MA COMING! SPINE KEEP THE TABLE WARM FOR M-M-ME."

Cracks in time…that’s when the thoughts came back. And as he sat there waiting for Rabbit to return…well that’s when the thoughts returned to him. Seconds turned into minutes, and to The Spine, that was an eternity. His spinal fins retracted as he decided to lay down while he waited for Rabbit (who was probably waiting on a delivery of stock for the Tower of Tacos).

Cracks in time…

He sighed at the ceiling as he closed his eyes and he powered down into a temporal sleep.

—-

"What do you mean he’s a danger to everybody!? Hatchy wouldn’t hurt a fly!"

"Spine calm down, we are only doing what is absolutely necessary for the well being of Walter Robotics and those who trust our services."

"I don’t care, where is he and why has he got to be away from me-…away from everyone. You can’t just take him away…do something…do anything!"

The Spine was furious. He had knocked over a chair and a small stack of books as he stormed into Peter Walter II’s personal study that fateful day. The day when he and the others woke from stasis to find that one of the charging stations was completely empty, and that all traces of the automaton that used to occupy it had disappeared without a trace.

"There is nothing we can do for him at the moment. He has a dangerous leak coming from his core, you saw what happened at the Gala, we cant risk something like this occurring again. Its far to stressful on our staff as well as Hatchworth. Putting him away was the only hope we had for the option of saving him in this possible long term malady…"

"Well why does it got to be him!? Just fix him up and let him go! You can’t keep him locked up forever. Fix him dammit! Fix him!"

Something changed in Peter’s face that struck a chord inside of The Spine. Something that told him that there were some things beyond repair and there were some things that just couldn’t be fixed. He felt a tear in his core, a rush of raw emotions churned out before he could even asses what they were and before he knew it, they had taken over.

He fell to his knees as he felt oil pooling at his optics, his gears grinded as he vaguely remembered hearing Peter getting up and walking to him. He grabbed onto his pants leg as soon as he was close enough and he sobbed openly onto him, oil dripping down his face and onto cloth and carpet. He held on for what seemed to be forever. What were these feelings and why did they have to be there, why did anything happen the way it did…Where was Hatchworth. Where did he go…

He felt a very human hand rest its self on top of his head as another reached back to locate his emergency shut down button. He didn’t fight and welcomed the dark as it overtook his senses. The last thing he remembered thinking was all the things he had to tell Hatchworth that he would probably never get to again.

Then the darkness took him and he felt no more.

—-

"H-h-hey Spine! Check it out! I’m b-b-b-by the front!"

The Spine awoke and pulled himself to sit upright from the couch. He felt a bit of oil pooling around his optics and took a moment to wipe his eyes; looking at his hand to the dark substance that just threatened to fall just moments before. It had been a while since he had any sort of stasis induced dreams, but the closer time drew to the anniversary of the day Hatchworth was taken, well if they were going to pick a day for it to happen then this was the time.

He pulled himself off the couch and waited for his spinal fins to open up from their slots in his back. He sighed and pulled on his hat as he made his way to the front door.

Yes, he had grown used to the days alone in the manor that followed his last visit to the vault. He had tried to let go of the pain and found that it was better this way. Sure he felt numb with unrequited feelings that were still lingering in his mind, but it was better to be numb then to hurt fully. He got by every day by playing music and singing with the others. Playing in that band gave him temporary relief of the growing aches in his chest whenever he remembered the bronze bot that he missed so terribly. Rabbit’s shenanigans had helped to distract him and he took refuge in his sister’s never ending bag of energy; the energy that was now fully obvious as he finally saw where she was.

Rabbit was standing at the open door practically bouncing off of the walls as she tried to drag something large into the manor.

Out front there was a large wooden crate standing roughly six feet tall. There was a large label on the package that stated:

"REFURBISHED BY WALTER ROBOTICS : MODEL 1.896HW"

The Spine felt the beating of his boiler in his chest. The heat seeped through his body stuck in his mind as he felt his silicon lips turning upright like he had done years ago. His smile returned with his hope as he quickly moved with Rabbit to open the box up and see what was inside. He already knew, and he was eager to open up that box.

He heard the secret he had once whispered to the closed door of the vault echo through his mind as they opened the crate up, and as a bunch of Styrofoam peanuts fell out and pooled around the floor and he finally looked back to the bronze mustachioed bot who stood powered off inside, all the feeling returned to him in a rush.

Yes. I loved you, and I still do. I’ll still be waitin’ for ya so come back real soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Another fic from me! I got the idea for this while I was walking home from the store so I thought I would run with it ::D


End file.
